They should retain their prisoner, he said, until the time came, which should be at the farthest by the next new moon--about twenty days ahead--and if they failed to receive all that had been promised they might then carry out their sentence against him. As a pledge of his sincerity and of his expectations to redeem his promises, he offered the chief his watch to keep until he came back, bringing all the gifts; and Joe added to this offer that of his magic corkscrew, on the special condition that it should be kept safe and should be returned to him “w’en de hosses and guns come.” The Indians, though still looking amazed, now seemed much pleased, and said they would both talk to Black Panther and to their people, and try to turn their hearts if it was not too late; but that the prisoner was already being led to the tree, as his friends could see, and that his tortures had probably begun. “Then, for Heaven’s sake, make haste!” exclaimed Cody, who remembered the pistol in Hare’s possession; “and you, Congo, run! run! Get as near to him as you can, and tell him what we are doing.” “Yes, sah; I’ll try,” said Joe. “But Black Panther, he’ll drive me off, I know, and I ’fraid he tommyhawk me. “Run! run! I’ll follow as fast as I can. If you can’t get near enough to speak to him, make signs that we are coming.” The four men all started for the scene of torture, but at very different rates of speed, for the two Indians walked with stately gravity, conversing as they went. Buffalo Bill and Congo ran as fast as they could. The negro, being the swifter of the two, was soon hovering on the outskirts of the crowd of men, women, and children who were gathered around the execution tree. Finding it impossible to get through the throng, he imitated the example of many of the Indian boys and girls, and climbed a tree, from the lowest branches of which he could overlook the crowd and get a view of all that was going on. The condemned man was bound to a small maple by a rope of bark, which was passed several times around his waist, but his limbs and head were left free, probably for the additional amusement to be derived from seeing him attempt to dodge or ward off the various missiles aimed at him by his persecutors. This sport had already begun, as was apparent from some arrows and knives sticking in the tree near his head, and a shout of laughter which rang through the crowd just as Congo attained his elevated seat applauded the successful feat of pinning one ear of the captive to the tree by a shaft from a bow. Pale as a ghost and frantic with terror, poor Hare now put up his hands to ward off the flying weapons, and now tried to extricate the arrow from his ear, groaning meanwhile and begging for mercy in language, of course, which would have been unintelligible to most of his tormentors if heard, but which was drowned by their own shouts and cries.